Flycatcher



A. M. HORNING FLYCATCHER Filed May 13, 1925 oct. 13, 1925.

Patented Oct. 13, 1925'.

UNITED STATES 1,557,054 PATEN'r ortica.

ANNA M. HORNING, OF BURLINGTGN (FUNCTION, MISSOURI.

Application filed May 13, 1925. Serial No. 30,020.

To aZZ 'whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, ANNA M. I-loRNINe, a citizen of the United States, residing at Burlington Junction, in the county of Nodaway and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flycatchers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an attachment for screen doors and'` has for its object the provision of means whereby flies which may collect at the outer side of the door will be caught and such flies as may not be caught may be driven away when it is desired to open the door. The invention seeks to provide a device for the stated purpose which may be easily applied to any screen door and easily operated and which will be so constructed that it is adapted to receive and carry sections of poison coated paper which will attract the flies and will hold such flies as come in contact therewith. Other objects of the invention will appear incidentally in the course of the following description, and the invention resides in certain novel features which will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the annexed drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevation of the inner side of a screen door equipped with my invention:

Fig. 2 is an elevation of a portion of the outer side of such door;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

The door 1 may be of the usual or any approved construction. In carrying out the present invention, there is secured to the upper cross strip of the door a supplemental frame 2 which consists of two bars rigidly secured together and to the door frame at their upper ends, as shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 3, one of the bars being offset, as shown at 3, whereby it may fit closely against the screen and between the screen and the outer bar. Journaled in said bars and extending outwardly therefrom through the screen of the door is a shaft 4 having a pinion 5 secured thereon between the frame bars. Upon the'outer end of this shaft is secured a rotary iiy-catching and driving member which will be presently more fully described. Disposed between the lower portions of the frame bars 2 is a gear wheel 6 which meshes with the pinion 5 andis carried by a drive shaft 7 which is journaled in the bars, as shown in Fig. 3, and is equipped with a crank or other form of handle 8.

rlihe fly catcher comprises a hub member 9 which is adapted to fit upon the outer end of the shaft 4 so as to `rotate therewith, a wing nut 10 being fitted upon the extremity Vof the shaft and turned home against the hub member 9 to prevent the fly catcher working off the shaft. Extending radially from the hub 9 are a plurality of arms 11 which have their side edges .diverging outwardly whereby their outer ends are appreciably greater in extent than their inner ends or points of junction with the hub. These radiating arms are preferably constructed of sheet metal integral with the hub 9 and have one side edge rolled or curled, as indicated at 12, an overhanging or reentrant iange 13 being formed along each side edge and the extreme outer end edge, as clearly shown. Covering the inner face of each arm 11 and engaged under the reentrant flanges 13 of the same is a sheet 14 of paper or other material which has its surface treated with some substance of an adhesive or poisonous quality.

'Ihe several arms 11 being located at the outer side of the screen door with the coated sheets 14 on their inner faces presented to the door will attract the flies and other insects which collect upon the door, and those flies or insects which light upon the paper will become entangled therewith and held. When it is desired to openv the door, the handle 8 is turned a few times and the r0- tation thereof will be transmitted through the gear 6 and the pinion 5 to rotate the shaft 4 at a high speed, and the resultant whirling of the arms 11 will agitate the swarm of insects which may be hovering about the outer side of the door. This whirling of the several arms will also create a draft or suction from their outer ends toward their inner ends which will tend to suck against the paper insects adjacent thereto, and it will be noted that the curls or overturned side edges of the several arms are at the rear thereof in the direction of rotation so that they will tend to mechanically scoop the insects and forcibly direct them against the adhesive coating. The device is exceedingly simple and may be applied to any screen door without requiring any substantial change in the construction of the door. It Will be found highly efficient in use for overcoming` the nuisance occasioned by insects collecting against the outer side of screen doors.

Having thus described the inventioni I claim:

l. A device for the purpose set forth coinprising a frame to be secured to a screen door, gears housed Within said frame, a shaft secured to the driven gear and projecting at the outer side of the screen door, and a plurality of radial arms carried by the outer end of said shaft and each havingl an insect-holding coating upon one face.

2. A device for the purpose set forth comprising a plurality of radial arms to be mounted at the outer side of a screen door and each having its side edges diverging outwardly and one side edge portion rolled to overhang the i'iaee of the arm, a sheet of insect.-holding` material covering the overhung face of each arm, and means for rotating the arms.

A device for the purpose set forth comprising a hub, a plurality of radial `arms extendingfrom the hub and having their inner faces provided With marginal reentrant flanges, sheets ot' insect-holding material coveringthe inner faces of the several arms and engaged at their edges under said Atlarugjies and means engaged With the said hub' for rotatably mounting the same upon a screen door.

In testimony Whereofl aiiix my signature.

ANNA M. HORNING. [L s] 

